The registration fee for non-members of the Association (or that have not renewed their yearly membership yet) is Euro 40. (There is time to pay for the 2019 membership until the 1st of December).The regular members are kindly requested to register here:

Political Communication in the digital media ecosystem

Annual Conference of the Italian Association of PolComm

Milan | University of Milan | Milan 12-14 Dec. 2019

Where do we stand with political communication research in the digital age? What are the challenges of the Web to the democratic system and to its actors? To what extent political participation patterns are affected by digital media? We have entered a fourth phase of political communication (Blumler 2016) in which politics, leaders, parties, movements, news media and voters face every day a new communication environment that follows logics and displays dynamics very different from the traditional ones. Today’s ecosystem is marked by virality of communications, by homophily of social media interactions, by polarization and ‘balkanization’ of public sphere, by obscure algorithms of platforms. It is also a “hybrid” system (Chadwick 2013), in which mainstream media, while welcoming digital media, are still decisive. This hybridity is systemic in nature, a source of complexity, is often disregarded by political actors, and it represents an environment that political communication research should hold as a firm departing point. Beside generating a new meaningful frame, hybridity raises important questions regarding research methodology, both on digital methods and through big data.

While the central theme of the Conference is “Political communication in the ecosystem of digital media”, the Italian Association of Political Communication’s policy is inclusive, and open to consider papers on any aspects of the relations between media and politics. PhD candidates and junior researchers are encouraged to submit their works. All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Suggestions how to write a successful abstract can be found in “Abstract Instruction” section.

The paper proposals should include: Title, Name of author(s), affiliation, email, Abstract of 400 words, 3 keywords, and should be sent to: convegno@compol.it

Abstract Instructions

Read the Call for abstracts accurately. In particular, pay attention to the word limit (400 words) and take note of the abstract submission deadline (September 15, 2019): you have to respect these key requirements.

Finally, do not forget to submit your abstract by emailing it as a .doc(x) attachment to convegno@compol.it.

In a separate file (it can be in PdF), send also a short bio of the corresponding author.

1. Indications

You have few lines to convince the conference committee that your work is interesting, that it makes a fresh contribution to scholarship, and that your argument stands up. In order to fulfil this objective, organise your abstract in the following section:

What the problem is and why people should care: Introduce the context of your study, including the particular issue or question your study responds to. Use this section to set up the context of your study and demonstrate that your question or issue is interesting and worth answering.

How do you assess the problem: Indicate the purpose and objective of your research, and eventually the hypotheses that you have tested.

Which method do you follow: Outline your project, explain the theoretical or practical techniques you employed, describe the data you used (e.g. study population, study period, data collection process) and the methods of analysis followed in order to answer the questions you have outlined in the previous section. If your paper is an argument, remember to establish the steps you go through to get to the final point.

What are your results: present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings / outcome of your study. Please summarize any specific results.

How does your work affect the discipline (and why people should listen to you): explain the significance of your findings / outcomes, discuss briefly the future implications of the results. In this section you need to convince the reader that your research is significant and that you deserve the time to present it.

Pay attention to include all this information by respecting the word limits! Ignoring the word limit makes it look as if you don’t have any respect for the conference organisers and the guidelines they have set, and that’s not a good impression to make. At the same time, use all the words allowed! Do not write an abstract much shorter than what you can: it won’t stand up well against other abstracts that are using all the words at their disposal to make a convincing argument.

2. The proposal’s Must Haves

An abstract proposal consists of:

Title

Author list (please indicate the affiliation and the institutional mail address of each author)

The abstract text

3 keywords

Note that the literature references should not be included.

3. The title: be short, be informative!

A good abstract title is short, specific, representative and informative. The title should summarize your abstract without going into excessive details. Describe the topic clearly, including, for example, the country and issue of the research.

A good title helps the reviewers categorize your abstract, and if accepted, it may help conference delegates find your session.

4. Ongoing research? Submit or not submit, that is the question

Abstracts are intended to present scientific studies, research, programs, policies, etc. highlighting both the methods or description and results or recommendations. If you are describing a study that is still in the planning stage, it would not be suitable for an abstract submission, unless the method that you will use is, for instance, of particular scientific interest. However, if your study is currently ongoing and you only have preliminary data, but it seems relevant or significant, please submit the abstract.

5. Last but not least: the selection procedure

All submitted abstracts will go through a blind peer-review process carried out by an international review committee. Each abstract will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. The Scientific Committee makes the final selection of abstracts to be included in the conference program.